Arnold and Maria’s divorce seems to have gotten a little less bitter over the past few weeks. In mid-July, Arnold filed his own divorce papers in response to Maria’s papers, which initiated the proceeding. Given his extramarital affair, some thought it was a little much from Arnold that he not only sought to deny spousal support to Maria, but that he also wanted the judge to make Maria pay her own legal fees.

Evidently Arnold is now backtracking on his initial response, claiming that he never read the documents even though he signed them. Arnold and Maria were both dealing with their son Christopher after he suffered an accident on a boogie board. Arnold’s focus was more on that, he says, than dealing with his ongoing divorce.

Arnold filed revised papers this week. In these, he decided not to ask the judge to deny alimony for Maria. Arnold’s approach indicates the middle ground that every divorce proceeding needs to have. Despite the heartbreak sources said he caused Maria, Arnold decided to hold back and not make an already difficult situation even worse. Indeed, some of the couple’s friends mentioned that Arnold’s response really caused a rift in the proceedings. Give and take is inherent in every divorce proceeding, and Arnold seems to have realized this. Did Arnold do the right thing? Leave your thoughts below.